


Take the Wind From My Sails (The Water in My Lungs)

by bar2d2s



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Fantasy Creatures, M/M, Slow Burn, Weird Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-16 19:56:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 16,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5838922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bar2d2s/pseuds/bar2d2s
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sea holds many mysteries, and not every fisherman cares to discover them. When the horrors of the deep make it their personal mission to destroy your life, however, even the most patient of men will act. Snaring a merman is an easy feat; keeping one, harder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

There is a creature in the water, slippery and wild, and Captain Hux intends to catch it.  
  
It had all started when one of their fishing nets had come in torn to shreds. That wasn't unusual; the nets would sometimes catch a shark along with the fish, and the shark would destroy them in its haste to get away. They'd simply lift anchor, move a few miles away, and start again. These were fertile waters, teeming with fish. No matter _where_  they set up, there would be plenty to bring home.  
  
And then it happened again. And again. And a fourth time after that.  
  
No matter how far they went, within a day of dropping anchor, at least one of the three nets they cast out would be ruined.  
  
His men, superstitious as they were, had become convinced that the sea was angry at the Finalizer's prosperity. A handful quit the moment they touched shore, offering to pray for those that stayed. Then more began to simply…not show up for work, seeking employment on other ships without formally resigning, so they didn't have to face Hux's calm fury. Soon only his most loyal workers remained.  
  
Hux sighed into his glass of brandy, refusing to meet Phasma's intense gaze. His tallest officer's suggestion of taking longer voyages, becoming a true merchant ship rather than a fishing vessel, was certainly tempting. There were hardly enough of them left to properly cart in the huge nets, and the small caches of fish they'd managed to keep after the creature was done with them weren't bringing in much profit.  
  
Still, this had become a matter of pride. There was something in the sea that had it out for him, and while he was a fan of classic literature, Hux refused to become a petty parody of Ahab.  
  
"I will take this into consideration. Until the end of the month, however, we shall remain on course."  
  
There, a schedule. It was the twelfth, which gave him just over a fortnight to capture his white whale, no more.


	2. Chapter 1

And then, quite suddenly, as if it had sensed his intent, the creature vanished.

Nets came back in unmolested, and they were able to fish in the same area for days without losing a single fish. Some of his former crew came back, and were turned away for their trouble. Any man that jumped ship at the first sign of trouble was useless to the Finalizer, and Hux wasn't afraid to let them know it. By the end of the month, profits were back to where they had been before, but payouts were doubled, due to the smaller crew. In his benevolence, Hux decided to give his hardworking men a weeklong reprieve, something that was met with approval from all.

Hux was a man of the sea, had been since he was a boy, taking long voyages with his father to distant lands. It was a wonderful childhood, though it had left him with a distinct distaste for spending too much time on dry land. As it was, Hux spent a great deal of his own take on the Finalizer's upkeep, though he also owned a much smaller boat for his own personal use; a two-masted schooner by the name _Intrepid_.

After checking and double-checking that the dockmaster had gotten all of his repair instructions down correctly, Hux made haste to the berth where the Intrepid was moored. He felt dizzy, unsteady on his so-called 'land legs'. The sight of it against the sunset made his heart race, the distinct feeling of _home_ settling over him.

It was late afternoon, heading into evening, so it would be unwise to set sail now. Still, laying out on the Intrepid's deck in a loose shirt and breeches, Hux felt calmer than he had in weeks. The cool breeze brought in small waves, which licked against the sides of the hull, occasionally misting salt water over his face. If he wasn't careful, Hux was certain that he could fall asleep exactly where he lay.

And then the fish flopped onto his chest.

With an almighty screech, Hux launched himself backwards, head hitting the foremast hard enough to have him seeing stars. Once his eyes cleared of their painful spots, he was able to see that the fish was still laying on the deck, gasping for water. 

"Make a fool out of me, will you?" Hux muttered to no one in particular, _especially_ not the fish, pulling a knife from the inside pocket of his greatcoat, which was still laying on the bench he'd draped it over earlier, and chopping off the fish's head.

It was later, after he'd cleaned and filleted the fish, that Hux realized something very odd. The fish was a pink salmon, which were common to the northern parts of the Pacific. He was, currently, in a port on Prince Edward Island in the north Atlantic. This fish was several thousand miles away from where it should have been. Quite frankly, it had no business being there; this part of the sea had its own type of perfectly edible salmon to provide.

Curious.

At first, he thought little of it, and prepared to sleep out on the deck that night. It was cool, but not cold, and it was a luxury he could afford with no other crew around. However, as he laid out his blanket, an idea formed. Forgetting for a moment that the fish in question shouldn't even _be_ in this part of the ocean, that salmon could have never made the jump from the ocean to his deck. There was no way. The only explanation, reasonable or not, was that the fish had been thrown.

The sea had given him a gift, and he had thoughtlessly accepted it.

Eyeing the gently lapping waves, Hux gathered up his bedding and headed below deck.

"Not tonight, I think." He said aloud, covering the porthole in his sleeping quarters with an extra blanket.

Hux was not a superstitious man, but if something in the water had taken interest in him, he sure as hell wasn't going to provide it with a free show.


	3. Chapter 2

The rest of the week passed by in a pleasant blur.

After the incident with the fish, Hux decided that his best course of action would be to raise anchor and keep on the move. He made several day trips to markets and restaurants from Port Hood to Cape Tormentine, reestablishing partnerships and forging a few new ones. He moored the Intrepid in a different harbor every night, and was not bothered.

The final night before he was to collect the Finalizer and reunite with his crew, his heart light and free of worry, Hux decided to drop anchor several miles out into the bay. It was beautiful out, with clear skies and a moon so full and bright, he could extinguish all his candles and read by it, if he so chose.

Instead, he brought his supper out onto the deck, as well as a blanket and pillow. It had been years since he'd been able to just sit back and observe the heavens, and he was determined to get in at least an hour with the constellations tonight. However, between the rocking of the waves, the fullness of his belly, and the comforting warmth of his blanket around him, Hux barely made it to half past ten.

The next thing he was aware of were the sounds of someone humming, and the strong smell of brine. Both were coming from just to the right of his face.

Hux's eyes shot open, scuttling backwards as quickly as he could to get away from... _whatever_ unseen thing was on his ship. It was when he finally cast his eyes around for it that the screaming began.

Inches from where he'd fallen asleep, its dark head poking out of the blanket he'd thrown, was the head and torso of a man. Trailing out from beneath the other half of the blanket and down over the side of the hull was a sleek black tail, like some kind of great serpent. As it pulled off the blanket, Hux could see the pointed nails on the ends of its webbed hands snagging on the material and creating little tears. As terrified as he was, that sight still irked him. Kill him if it must, but leave his things be. The creature smiled at him sharp, white teeth on full display. Its tongue, split like a serpent's, flicked towards him, tasting him on the air.

"I've been looking for you." The creature rasped, low and dangerous. Hux felt himself begin to quake where he sat, but willed his voice to stay steady.

"And you have found me. Are you the creature that has been destroying my business?" Its laugh was rough, and didn't come out of its mouth. Instead, the gills on either side of its neck opened and closed, expelling air in a slow drag, throaty laughter in every sense of the phrase. "It isn't funny, much of my crew quit, and the rest had families that went hungry for days."

Dragging itself forward, more of the creature's tail slid onto his deck until a wide fin slapped over the side, and the abomination was directly in front of his face. Its tongue slid out again, ghosting over his cheek. If he wasn't seconds from wetting himself, Hux would have found the gentle action ticklish. Instead, he felt like he was being sized up for a meal.

"I have. I want the surface to have nothing left to offer you when I bring you home." Hux's blood felt like it was freezing in his veins, even as the creature drew its nails across his face and down his neck, scraping instead of tearing. Goosepimples raised across his arms, and it smiled again. "Though if you come willingly, I will leave them be."

The creature wanted to steal him away, drown him and keep his corpse like a trophy. For what reason, Hux didn't know, but he needed to think fast if he was going to live to see the morning.

"My ship is being repaired." He blurted out, and the creature stopped its soft caresses. "I am the only one who can sign the papers granting its release. There are also business matters that only I know, important ones, that I would need to share with my first mate." It watched him, a curious look on its face. At one point, it blinked, and Hux saw that its eyelids were clear, a thick film coating black eyes for a moment before retreating as if it had never been.

"So...you'll come?" It asked, its voice somehow lower, and the rumble of it caused Hux to shiver. He held up a hand, one finger pointed skywards.

"One month, to set my affairs in order. One month, to assure myself that my ship and my crew will survive without me. One month, without any of this net-wrecking nonsense. And then, yes. Come for me, and I will go peacefully."

The creature said something then, a purr of syllables that spilled from both its mouth and gills, and Hux forgot his fear, raising a brow. "Pardon?" Its tongue flicked over him a final time, drawing a line across his bottom lip and chin.

"Never you mind, it's not important now. You will see me again, when next the moon is full, but I will see you every chance I get." Hux knew what that meant as soon as it was spoken; the creature would be watching him all month, to make sure that he didn't back out of their agreement.

As it turned to drag itself back to the water, a new thought came to mind. Names. His father had always taught him that names had power. It was why he was Brendol Hux the second, a powerful name inherited from a powerful man. If this creature, this evil thing, if it had a name...well, he still wasn't a superstitious man, but there were still people in this world who were, who knew what to do with such a thing.

"Wait!" Hux cried, grabbing at the long, long tail. Good lord, the monster was easily ten feet long, maybe more. It paused, surprised, and cocked its head at him. "What, I, what should I call you?" When the creature smiled this time, it was merely a fond upturning of lips. It said something in the same language as before, a rolling purr that no human could replicate.

"But you, you may call me Kylo Ren."

With that, the creature dove headfirst into the ocean, the splash from its reentry soaking Hux to the skin. He shivered helplessly as he used the foremast to pull himself up, leaving his sopping bedding on the deck and going below, shedding his clothes as he went. It wasn't until he was curled up under his thicker quilt on his bed that he heard the tapping at his porthole.

Hux groaned, but peeked out anyway. The creature, Kylo Ren, waved at him. He dropped his face back to the mattress. The tapping started up again, and did not relent until he'd thrown the covers back and stalked over to open it.

"What?!" He growled, more confident with the hull of the ship between himself and the beast. Its brows, the same inky black as its hair, shot upwards in surprise.

"I had forgotten before but...where is my gift?" Hux made a small sound of confusion, and Kylo Ren sighed. "I went quite a long way for yours, you know. I am sure mine will be nothing short of spectacular." 

"You mean, the fish?" The words fell out of his mouth unbidden, and Kylo Ren nodded, pleased.

"I assume you liked it, you ate it quickly enough." It had been a gift? Who gives gifts to their future victim?

"Ah, yes. It was delicious." Kylo Ren made a small noise, a happy purr straight from his gills, and dropped out of sight. Hux waited a few minutes, and when he didn't resurface, closed the porthole.

A terrifying half-man rose out of the sea intent on drowning him. He only had a month left to live, unless he could figure out some way to capture or kill the creature. Hux grabbed his remaining pillow, holding it to his face and screaming as loudly as he could.

No one was going to believe him.


	4. Chapter 3

The Finalizer looked as good as new, and Hux's heart swelled with pride. She'd been his father's ship before him, but Hux didn't have the patience to be a merchant, not really. The travel was nice, but so much trade took place on dry land, he couldn't stomach it. The sea was better for him, so a fisherman he would stay.

For another month, at least.

Once he'd finished his address of the crew, Hux drew Phasma aside.

"The creature is real." He told her in a hushed whisper, and she raised a brow. "It is real, and it tried to drown me." Phasma placed her large hands on his shoulders, squeezing them comfortingly.

"While your week was very productive, captain, perhaps you should have taken your own advice and rested up. You're wound tighter than a bowstring." Hux's heart sunk.

She didn't believe him.

He'd had a feeling that no one would, but Phasma wasn't no one. They'd known each other since childhood, when she'd disguised herself as a boy to work in the kitchens and learn the ins and outs of sailing. She was, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the best friend and most trusted confidant he'd ever had.

And she thought him mad.

"Phasma." He pleaded, grabbing her arm as she moved away. "I looked into its black eyes, rows of teeth bared to me in a smile. Its nails slid down my face with care, a threat for if I tried to run. In a month, it will return and I will be a dead man. Please, my friend."

Phasma had stood stock-still as he spoke, but now she shook. Her expression was no longer pitying, nor was it mocking. She was afraid.

"Siyokoy." She whispered. It took him a moment, but Hux realized that she was searching for the words he didn't know. Phasma had always had a love for the local folklore when they traveled; he'd hated to leave the Finalizer. "Merrow. Maneli. _Merman_. Monstrous creatures, they have no souls of their own, yet desire eternal life. Oh, captain."

There was still time before they cast off, and Phasma followed him to his quarters to listen as he relayed the whole tale. The fish from a foreign sea that landed on his chest, running from god knew what. Waking to that _thing_ by his face. The deal he'd made.

"And as if that weren't enough, the monster expects a _gift_ from me." He finished with a sigh, face buried in his hands. Phasma broke her stunned silence, as she usually did, to offer a suggestion.

"So why not get him one?" Hux snorted, glaring up at her.

"Phasma, some trinket will not spare my life."

"But it might endear you to it." She replied with a shrug. "Lord knows, my desire to throttle you lessened every time you shared those peppermint sticks with me when we were young. Feed your monster enough sweets, and it may come to you purring like a pet."

Hux laughed, but his insides still felt hollow. The creature expected a divine, meaningful gift. Clearly, the fish had some meaning to it, if it had traveled a fortnight to acquire one for him. But what could Hux give it in return?

Quite suddenly, it came to him. "Oh. Oh, of course."

Phasma looked at him strangely as he jumped to his feet, dashing for the locked trunk at the foot of his bed. Unlike his armoire, which held his clothing and was kept locked so everything would stay in place while the ship was in motion, the trunk held the few possessions he'd kept to remember his parents, and was never opened for any reason.

Hux had never met his mother, had never even seen her. She'd died in childbirth, and his father had no photographs. All he had of hers was an old fur wrap, a pearl-handled comb, and a red coral cross on a silver chain. He pulled out the cross, and Phasma gaped at him.

"You joke!" She exclaimed. She knew, better than anyone, what his mother's things meant to him. His father's pocketwatch he carried with him always, but in the end, it was still a trinket. He had a lifetime of memories of his father, but of his mother, he had none. "You can't give it _that_!"

"If I just pick up some bauble, it will know." Hux wasn't sure how he knew this, but he did. "This will prove my sincerity, and maybe cause it to let its guard down." He slipped the necklace into the pocket of his greatcoat, walking towards the door. "Come, it's time to leave port."

The rest of the morning bled into afternoon as they chose a spot to drop anchor and set up the nets, and soon evening was upon them. Dinner was washed down with whiskey and song, his crew still riding the high of a week's rest. It was nearing midnight when the last of them shuffled off to bed, and Hux's nerves jangled like a dancer's tambourine. 

Once he was certain they were all asleep, Hux stood at the bow of the Finalizer and called out to his monster.

"Kylo Ren." He was quiet at first, a soft call. Phasma had said that mers were supposed to have amazing hearing. After he received no answer, he called louder. "Kylo Ren!"

The creature did not come, and Hux almost felt disappointed.

He would not scream blindly into the night, someone would undoubtedly come to investigate. But he would try one last time. "Kylo-"

"I knew you would miss me."

The sound came from directly below him, and Hux clutched his chest. Kylo Ren was climbing up the bow, powerful arms the only thing keeping the rest of his body from falling back into the water.

It was strange how Hux thought of the creature as an it when he was alone, and a he when he was right in front of him.

"I did not miss you." Hux replied brusquely, but gentled his tone as Kylo Ren's tongue snapped out to taste the air he breathed. "I have found you your present."

At this, Kylo Ren's eyes lit up, a shine to the dark depths that hadn't been there before. It didn't make him look any less frightening, though it did draw Hux's attention away from his teeth. Kylo Ren pulled himself part of the way onto the deck, resting the majority of his body on the bow itself. "Oh? And what do you have for me?"

Hux pulled the necklace out of his pocket, dangling it by its chain in front of Kylo Ren. Part of him hoped that the religious iconography would be too much, that he would be driven back like some demon in the night, but of course he gasped in delight instead.

"Red coral!" He crowed, crawling forward to rub his face against Hux's hip. A strange turn; perhaps Phasma had been right after all. "A fitting gift indeed! And here I feared you'd misread my intentions." Wait.

"Pardon?" Hux asked blankly, for the second time in as many nights. Kylo Ren blinked up at him slowly, no longer reaching for the necklace. "Your intentions are to steal me away, to drown me, and possibly to eat me. Why you're going through all this trouble for a meal, however-" He was cut off by the most hideous-sounding laughter he'd ever heard.

"Eat you? What good would _eating_ you do me? You are mine-" And again, Kylo Ren made the series of sounds from the night before. "I'm taking you _home_."

A feeling passed over Hux, gone as quickly as it had come. This creature didn't want to kill him, nor eat him, nor even hurt him, in any significant way. It wanted to _possess_ him. Slowly, Hux sank to his knees before his monster, and Kylo Ren bowed his head, allowing the other man to put the necklace on him. Once it was on, Kylo Ren took the charm between the claws on his index finger and thumb, grinning foolishly down at it. "Red coral. You do care."

Swifter than Hux had thought possible, Kylo Ren reached out and snatched his arm, shoving the sleeves of his greatcoat and shirt up as far as they would go before bending forward and latching on with his teeth. Hux yelped, shoving at Kylo Ren's face with his other arm as he felt one of the teeth break his skin. Kylo Ren immediately detached himself, looking disappointed. 

"I wasn't looking to wound you, just to leave a mark. You've left your mark on me." He palmed the necklace, the blood on his lips ruining the sheepish expression.

"Humans are _fragile_." Hux shouted, then lowered his voice. "Humans bleed. Humans can't breathe underwater. Humans belong on boats or dry land. Up here? This is home."

The look Kylo Ren gave him then, Hux couldn't read it. He felt like he was being pitied and patronized, all in a single glance. And then he had lurched forward again, one hand on the back of Hux's head as he nosed the space behind Hux's ear, his tongue slipping beneath his collar and back up before Hux could protest.

" _Humans_ are fragile." Kylo Ren agreed, the points of his claws digging into Hux's scalp where he clutched him. " _You_ are not."

And then he was gone, diving back over the bow as Hux sat back on his heels, too stunned to move.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Red coral is a passion stone, one that attracts love and prosperity. Hux was not aware of this, because he's not the kind of man that knows the meaning behind stones and flowers.


	5. Chapter 4

That was where Phasma found him hours later at dawn, on his knees at the bow of the ship, as if in prayer. He was cold to the touch, and jumped when she pulled him back against her.

"We will tell them you are ill." She said quietly, helping him to stand. "Rest, I will come to you later."

Phasma left him in his quarters and while he DID sleep, it was fitful. Several times he woke gasping, nose still filled with the heavy scent of brine that clung to Kylo Ren like an extension of it. His dreams were no help, replaying the creature's climb up the bow over and over, slowing it down so he could observe the play of its muscles, the way its dark hair fell into its face as it loomed over him.

When Hux next found himself truly awake, Phasma was pushing a bowl of stew and a flask of sour-smelling liquor into his hands. She sat with him as he ate, telling her of what had happened, of how the monster had accepted his gift almost _too_ happily. Her eyes widened, then narrowed as he mentioned Kylo Ren's supposed 'intentions', and he paused. "What?"

"It's courting you."

Such a cursedly simple answer, but the one he wanted to believe least. He'd heard tell of mermaids that stole men into the sea, of an island in the Mediterranean where bloodthirsty, sex-starved bird women roosted, of sea witches and selkies and all manner of sea-born beasts that desired manflesh...but all of these creatures were decidedly female. Kylo Ren, with its deep voice and long, curveless body, did not seem to be.

"Don't be absurd, Phasma. Clearly, the creature lies. It's probably new at murder, or something of the like." She snorted, putting the flask to her own lips and drinking. "However, I've had some thoughts about what to do about it."

There was a tank, in the topmost storage layer, that held the occasional unusual find they'd haul in. Small sharks that couldn't break free of the net, mostly, but it had also held particularly large squid. It wouldn't fit Kylo Ren perfectly, but the tank was on wheels, so it wouldn't be _too_ hard to get on deck.

"And you plan to, what, just tell it to get in the cozy little fishbowl? So you can take it home with you?" The red in Phasma's cheeks betrayed her inebriated state. Of the two of them, he'd always been better at holding his liquor. Hux laughed, shaking his head and accepting the flask she passed him.

"Of course not, I plan to get it drunk, question it, and then kill it once it's of no further use to me."

As terrifying as he found the creature, its very existence still raised some important questions. Where had it come from? Were there others like it? Why was it so fixated on him? When had it started stalking him? Hux was burning with curiosity, a fire that only saltwater wrung from inky black hair could douse.

"Alone?"

A good point.

Kylo Ren was easily twelve feet long, from head to fin. It possessed razor-sharp claws, and teeth that were built to rip and tear. Its arms, corded with muscle and pale as the moon, were powerful enough to snap the burliest man's neck without a second thought. If he wanted to capture it, he would need all the help he could get.

And so, that night at dinner, he stood before his men in the galley, braced for mutiny.

"Gentlemen, I have indeed been ill. Not of body, but of mind. For the past month, a creature has stalked my every move, nearly destroyed all of our livelihoods. It wishes to take me into the deep with it, something I know not a one among you will allow." A murmur of agreement rolled through the assembly, and he continued. "I have devised a plan that will allow me to capture it, but I cannot do it alone. My first mate has already generously offered all the strength she can afford, which is no small amount, but it will not be enough."

Hux launched into a detailed description of his monster, watching even the most skeptical men among them go white. At a critical moment, Phasma unveiled the tank, which had been filled with seawater and covered in the corner. He ended his speech with a simple, "Participation is not mandatory, but do remember: this is the beast that would have seen your children starve. Destroying it is the only way to know that no other ship will suffer as we did."

As he walked out to prepare the bait, Hux heard the men talking amongst themselves. His crew was no longer as large as it once was, a baker's dozen of the original twenty-four, yet he knew that most would join him. In the end, ten men reported to Phasma, those with young wives and younger babies opting out. He did not blame them, but made note of their names all the same.

*

That night, with the waning moon high overhead, Hux stood at the bow of his ship again, preparing to call to his monster. Phasma and his men waited out of sight, half armed to the teeth, the other half manning the tank. He'd laid out a simple meal of fish stew and wine, an orange thrown in for good measure. The creature had probably never tasted an orange, and deserved at least one new experience before it died.

Before he could get a word out, however, a pair of shiny black eyes were already peering up at him from just below the bow's railing. Hux tried not to jump. "You!"

"You wanted me to come back." Kylo Ren sounded almost gleeful, mouth stretched wide around his toothy smile. He was still wearing the cross. "You want me here. You want to be with me." Hux shuddered, but nodded all the same.

"I thought perhaps, you would join me for a meal? I am uncertain of what you eat down there, but the food up here probably has a bit more flavor to it." He backed away as Kylo Ren reached for him, kept backing up as more and more of the creature slithered onto the deck. Hux sat on the blanket that held the food, a display of trust more in his crew than the mer.

Kylo Ren wrapped his body around the whole of the blanket once, laying propped up on his elbows to just stare at him. There was a strange, unfamiliar look about him, and Hux suddenly felt very exposed, as if Kylo Ren was reading him where he sat. He smiled again, close-mouthed. "Thank you," And there were those damned sounds again, some semblance of a title, he supposed. Hux wrinkled his nose.

"Hux." He supplied, not willing to stand that strange language a second longer. The creature would have no power over him with only his surname. "My name is Hux." Kylo Ren frowned at him, clawed hand hovering over the drugged stew.

"No it isn't. I came into being knowing your name, and that isn't it." Well that was...curious. Definitely one of the things Hux would have to ask him about once the creature was safely shackled and tanked. The hand closed over the bowl at last, and Hux held his breath.

His jaw widening to an almost impossible size, Kylo Ren tipped the contents of the bowl directly down his throat. Seeing the way Hux's eyes had widened, he shrugged apologetically. 

"These are made for biting, not chewing." He offered, and Hux remembered the still-stinging pain in his arm. "It tasted good, though. Human spices, I see what the fuss is about."

After a minute or two of absolutely no effect, Hux picked up the mug that held the wine. Kylo Ren would be able to hold it, if he cupped it in both hands, but it seems that Phasma may have had a point. If the creature truly _was_ courting him, acting responsive might get him to lower his guard quicker. Leaning forward slightly, he touched the rim of the cup to Kylo Ren's plush lips. The look of surprise on his face was almost endearing, tongue darting out to dip into the wine. He apparently liked what he tasted, mouth opening to accept whatever Hux poured.

Unlike with the stew, which was given no time to work, the slowly sipped wine seemed to create quite a reaction indeed. Kylo Ren's eyelids drooped little by little, until he slid forward to lay his head in Hux's lap. Before the creature fell into a deep sleep, his face reflected his heart's disappointment.

"A trick." He murmured, feeling as Phasma shackled his arms behind his back. The rest of the men were dragging his lower half over to the tank, which was about as high off the ground as a whiskey barrel. "You tricked me."

 _Sorry_ , Hux almost replied, before he remembered that he wasn't. The monster had this coming. 

Brendol Hux the second was no creature's prize.


	6. Chapter 5

While it was quite obvious that the creature was out cold, his crew was still careful when it came to wheeling the tank below deck. Instead of keeping it in an open area, where Kylo Ren might have a hope of escaping, Hux instructed them to take the tank to the room that had once been used to store food, before he'd put a proper pantry in the galley. It was a decent size, with the shelves removed, and had no windows. Being unable to see the waves, or tell the passage of time, might break the beast sooner.

Once he'd dismissed his men, Hux stood shoulder to shoulder with Phasma, watching their slumbering captive.

"Doesn't look too frightening like this, does he?" Phasma remarked, leaning down to look at the way the water moved over Kylo Ren's hair. Hux put his hand on her elbow, pulling her back out of the room.

"Not too close, no telling how long the sedative is going to work on him, or what he'll do once he wakes." She shrugged, then yawned. "You did well tonight, my friend. Go, sleep."

She nodded, eyes squeezing shut a moment before opening them wide again. "And you will be well down here?" She asked, still attempting to wake herself up a bit. Hux snorted.

"Once the creature begins to stir, I will lock the door and leave. I am in no hurry to die." Clapping him on the shoulder and stifling another yawn, Phasma shuffled off to bed.

And then it was just the two of them again.

Curiosity had always been one of Hux's vices, and while he knew it would be best if he stayed in the doorway, he couldn't help but creep back into the room. Though he'd looked unhappy to get there, once asleep, Kylo Ren was actually...well, he wasn't _lovely_ , but his face was certainly more interesting than terrifying. 

His black eyes were still visible through his clear eyelids, giving the impression that the creature was watching him. His eyelashes were quite long, and as dark as his brows and hair. They gave his sleeping face a softer, youthful appearance, especially with his sharp teeth only barely visible behind the full lips of his partially-open mouth. His nose was long, and would have been disproportionately large had Kylo Ren's face been rounder. Instead, it fit his ovalular face rather well. Now that he had time to really _look_ , Hux noticed that the skin of Kylo Ren's body was smooth-looking, like a dolphin's, and mostly hairless. He had a few moles dotting his face, as well as several on his arms and chest. He also possessed nipples, which should have marked him as mammalian, yet no navel, which suggested he may have been hatched from an egg, as most fish were.

Fascinating.

Hux was so enraptured by his ability _to_ look, he completely missed the moment of transition, when Kylo Ren's breathing went from slow and even to haltingly slow, and somewhat jerky. It was when he approached Kylo Ren's opposite end, intent on reaching into the tank and feeling the skin of his fish-half, however, that the creature spoke up.

"No." Hux jumped backwards, cursing, and Kylo Ren's sullen expression twitched into a momentary smile before he hunched in on himself again. "You don't get to touch me. You tricked me into this, this," He slapped a palm onto the outside of the tank angrily, splashing water onto the floor. "I don't want to see you, or hear anything you have to say, unless it's something along the lines of, 'oh, _please_ forgive me, Kylo, I was swayed by the landwalkers and _forced_ to do this to you!'" Hux was displeased to hear that when Kylo Ren mimicked him, he put on a falsetto.

"I do not sound like that." He gritted out, arms crossed. Kylo simply slid down into the tank, submerging his upper half and pushing his lower half into the air.

Hux tried several times to coax Kylo back above the water, and was met with a flat glare. Finally, he simply stopped, turning around and walking towards the door.

Bingo.

"Where are you going?" Kylo demanded, chin still underwater. His voice sounded deeper with water in his gills. Hux jabbed a finger upwards.

"To _bed_ , monster. I am still the captain of this ship, I have responsibilities. And I need _sleep_ to do my job properly." One foot out the door, he paused. "I'll be back in the morning with breakfast. I am not a cruel man, Kylo, I simply have no wish to die."

There was no response, and when Hux turned around, Kylo was completely submerged again, his arms crossed and his back to the door. He was... _pouting_.

"I expect you'll be more willing to talk once fed." Hux said softly, and Kylo's upper half shot out of the water entirely.

"I will not be _poisoned_ again!" He screeched, banging on the outside of the tank with both fists. His eyes were wide and angry, teeth bared in a snarl. Any thoughts Hux had entertained about Kylo Ren being a nonthreatening, peaceful creature were gone, as was he.

Hux raced from the room, and was safe in his own bed before he realized that he hadn't locked the door to Kylo's prison. However strong the mer was, though, he was still a fish, and fish couldn't survive out of water very long. Could they?

Sighing, he went and locked his door, then prepared to get some well-earned sleep.


	7. Chapter 6

Hux tossed and turned most of the night, unable to find a comfortable position to sleep in. His sheets felt like they were smothering him, yet when he threw them off, the room grew unbearably cold. He wondered, for a moment, if it was guilt that was bothering him so. He was still wondering when he dropped off to sleep.

_The landscape was familiar, though Hux knew he'd never been to this place. It was dark, and wet, and cold, but he was warm. He swam through the water, glided, surfacing for air every now and then. A pair of hands caught him by the legs, sharp nails scratching, but instead of feeling fear, he laughed. The hands vanished as he went to look behind himself, and once he'd turned back around, wide black eyes were staring into his own, framed by a familiar, dear face._

_Hux sighed out a name that sounded like a song as that face nuzzled his neck. A purring of syllables that he knew backwards and forwards, followed a soft nip from pointed teeth._

He jolted awake, sweating. 

As he washed and dressed for the day, Hux tried to wipe the dream from his mind. He'd never been able to swim, he simply had no knack for it. As a young child, he'd fallen overboard and nearly drowned. After that, every attempt his father had made to teach him to swim had been met with disaster. The best he could ever hope for was to imagine himself to be as light as possible, to bob in the water like a wine cork until he was rescued. He hadn't dreamed of swimming since he was a boy; having the monster on board was doing strange things to his head.

The mood at breakfast was light and cheery. Clearly, Kylo Ren had made no attempt to leave his cell in the night. After everyone had been fed, Hux handed command over to Phasma, grabbed several raw fish from the galley, and went below.

Kylo Ren was asleep again, head pillowed on his arms on the rim of the tank. He was snoring softly, and Hux could see one hand clapped over his neck, the other side pressed into his arm. He had a hunch that if Kylo was under the sea, he wouldn't snore. Figuring that he'd been rude enough last night, Hux sat down on the floor a few feet from the tank. The creature was sure to be miserable upon awakening, no need to pull it out of dreamland quite so soon.

He woke up slowly, much more slowly than he had when coming off the sedative. First his lower half began to undulate, stretching the best it could in the close confines of the tank. Then his shoulders twitched, trying to sink him back into the water. They eventually won, tipping him backwards and waking him up the rest of the way. Kylo shook his head, hair fanning out around him in the clear water, and yawned. That was when he spotted Hux, and his peaceful expression immediately soured.

"Free me!" He screeched, launching out of the water. Unlike last night, however, Hux was now aware that really, yelling was all he could do. He wasn't going to try and get out of the tank, not when he wasn't sure which way lead back to the ocean. He waited for Kylo to wear himself out a bit, then held up the plate he'd brought. It held four raw fish, unaltered from the state they'd been caught in. A soft gurgle echoed through the room, and he bit back a triumphant smile.

"Peace offering?" Hux asked, standing. Kylo's glare went back and forth between him and the fish, stomach growling away. Finally, he slumped over the side of the tank.

"Give them here." He said grumpily. Hux wagged a finger at him.

"And what do we say?"

Now, he wasn't planning on not giving his prisoner food. It was cruel, and unethical. But the sneering way Kylo Ren gritted out the word _please_ was certainly worth him thinking that he wouldn't. Hux walked forward, body just out of Kylo's reach, and handed him the plate. It was then that he learned his first truth about his monster:

Watching merman eat was stomach-churningly disgusting.

Kylo's jaw made a soft popping sound as he slid the first fish in whole, spitting out the bones minutes later after he'd... _regurgitated_ them. Hux gulped back bile, touching the backs of his knuckles to his lips to keep quiet, but didn't move as Kylo finished his breakfast. To leave would be no better than showing throat, and Hux was the one in control here.

"Better than the last meal I served you, yes?" Kylo spat the last fish's bones directly at him, the disgusting things bouncing off his legs, and smiled with all his teeth showing.

"Oh yes, quite." His smile dropped away after a moment, and he became rather twitchy. "Say, you don't...would you be able to..." Color appeared high on his pale chest, and Hux tilted his head in interest.

"Out with it."

Kylo looked away from him, lower half beginning to move again. "I need to...expel. Badly." Hux's face pinkened as well. For some reason, he hadn't thought of his monster doing that. The fact that it did, that it could, humanized it a bit.

"I, I will fetch a barrel." He said stiffly, walking briskly from the room.

Luckily, it was easily found, and Hux left the creature alone to do what must be done. It wasn't weakness to give a man privacy when he used the head.

After some time, Hux peered back into the room. Kylo Ren was laying down in the tank again, playing with the necklace he'd given him. The sight of the beast treating his mother's cross so gently, as if it were made of diamonds and gold rather than coral and tarnished silver, sent a warm feeling from his chest to settle in the pit of his stomach. He cleared his throat, and Kylo's head snapped up.

"I am... _sorry_ I didn't appreciate your gift." Hux said quietly. Kylo's lips twitched, but he neither smiled nor frowned. Still, the question had to be asked. "Why did you bring me a fish from another ocean?" He laughed.

"Why _wouldn’t_  I bring you something from home? I wanted you to know it was me. I mean, you didn't, but it was the thought that counts, yes?"

"Why would I have known it was you?" Hux blurted out, surprised. He'd never met this creature before, in all of his travels. After his father had passed, he'd picked a spot of sea that he and Phasma liked best, and went about converting the Finalizer into a fishing ship. "You and I only met last week."

Kylo watched him carefully, for any signs that he might already know the answer to his own question, but Hux was an open book. A very confused, very curious open book. He beckoned Hux forward with a single claw, and the man was compelled to obey. Slowly, as if addressing a young child, he began to speak.

"You were stolen from us, years ago, and kept on the move. No matter where I went, you had already been and gone. Your feet never touched the water, so you were very hard to track. Then you stopped moving, and I finally caught up to you." Just as slowly, Kylo reached out to him, his webbed hand less slimy and more...slick, like the skin of a dolphin. Just as he'd thought. Hux's eyes dropped to half-mast as the mer caressed his face, but Kylo wasn't finished. "He took your beautiful pelt, and like that, you were in his thrall. Luckily, he was after a son, not a mate, or Oceanus himself would have failed to hide him from me." At that, Hux wrenched himself away.

"What about my father?" He choked, his breath coming in short gasps. "My father was a good man, practically a saint!" Kylo's teeth flashed in the dim light.

"He was a devil that stole you as you were coming into maturity. A devil and his witch, who took your mind from you. I have spent twenty long years searching, twenty years we will never get back." His lower half was thrashing again, hands gripping the side of the tank hard enough to shatter it. "I was not tasked to bring you home, but I knew I'd be unable to live with myself if I didn't _try_." Kylo made a noise at him again, a slurring of consonants and vowels that made no sense to him, but were also everything.

He'd dreamed of those sounds and, clumsily, sounded out the name that fell so much easier from his lips underwater.

Kylo launched himself out of the tank, upper body colliding with Hux and knocking him off his feet. If it hadn't been for the sheer size and weight of Kylo's other half, the tank would have fallen over as well. Hux nearly screamed, but terror closed his throat. He looked up into Kylo's face, expecting to see animalistic hunger, something beastly and primal. Instead, he saw tears.

"You remember." Kylo sobbed, his claws digging into the material of Hux's coat. "You really need to work on your enunciation, but you _remember_." Hux was about to correct him, tell him that his conscious brain didn't remember a damned thing, when the mer's mouth was on his.

Kylo's lips tasted like tuna and brine. His breath on his cheek was hot, but not unpleasant, though he could do without all the damage the other man was doing to his clothing. Kylo hadn't even waited to see if Hux would kiss him back, moving from his mouth to his cheek, to his ear, down to his neck. The mer's long tongue slithered over his eyelids, the shell of his ear, the crease of his nose. It was like Kylo was trying to taste every bit of him that he could reach, lapping up any of his own tears that fell on Hux's face. It was when clawed fingers reached for the buttons on his shirt that Hux came to his senses.

"That is _quite_ enough!" He yelped, pushing at Kylo's shoulders. The mer smoothed his hands down Hux's sides, trying to discern if he was slim or thick beneath the bulk of his clothing, and Hux batted those away, too. "Off me, beast! I have questions for you, I'll not have you pawing at me before they're answered!"

"So," Kylo said slyly, "Once you have gotten your answers, I _will_ be allowed to paw at you?" Hux flushed, dragging himself out from under Kylo. It sounded easier than it was.

"No." He replied, standing and brushing himself off. From the floor, Kylo stared at him through half-lidded eyes, chin resting on his palms. " _No_." He said again, firmer this time. Kylo rolled his eyes, and Hux wondered how he'd ever thought this infuriating creature fearsome. To think, it had taken ten men and Phasma to get him into his-

Suddenly, a thought came to him. "Phasma shackled you. How did you get free?" Kylo's grin was sharp, even with his teeth out of view.

"There isn't a soul alive that can bind me if I don't wish to be bound." He said, shifting his lower half a bit so that Hux could see the metal cuffs at the bottom of the tank. His shoulders rolled, twitchy again. "That being said, ah, assistance?" Kylo jerked his head back at the water, and Hux could see that the skin around his gills was starting to look tight. Poor little fish man.

Kylo was heavy, all muscles and dolphin-slick skin, and the mer wasn't exactly helping get himself back to the tank, more focused on getting clawed fingertips beneath Hux's clothing. He felt the momentary flash of sympathy fade.

"I will drop you." Hux warned him, tensing as Kylo nuzzled him again, forked tongue tickling his top lip. "You've made some very serious accusations, and I need some time to think on them before I trust you are telling me the truth."

He lowered Kylo back into the water carefully despite his previous threats, then turned to leave.

"Wait!" Kylo called. He sounded panicked. "You'll come back, right? Even if it's just to, to bring more food." It was truly laughable that he'd ever been scared of this creature, who reveled in touch and hated to be alone. The click of his shoes was loud in the quiet of the room, the only other sound the sloshing of the water in Kylo's tank.

“I need to think, to try and remember." Hux said softly, placing his hand on the top of Kylo's head. The mer tilted his head back, eyes closed as he felt the palm slide down to his forehead. A little happy sigh slipped from his gills. "If you prefer, no one will bring you food but me." Kylo nodded, and Hux took his hand away. "I will return."

There were no further protests as he left, though there was the sound of a great splash as Kylo dunked himself into the tank. Hux snorted.

The monster of the deep, now his docile pet. Oh, if his father could see him now.


	8. Chapter 7

Phasma was busy so, even though he _desperately_ needed her perspective, Hux decided to shut himself in his quarters to think.

He remembered his boyhood, vaguely, in the way that all childhood memories are blurred around the edges. He remembered his father, tall and imposing, with his dark hair and eyes. He had always assumed he’d gotten his lighter features from his mother as a child, and kept that belief to adulthood. Now, however, if he truly had been stolen…

Hux shook his head. That would open up a host of new questions. The point for now was to see what he remembered about _this_ life, the one he remembered living.

He thought back to his teenage years, which stood out in stark contrast to the haziness of his younger days. Phasma was a prominent figure from the time he was fifteen onward, his friend, her secret-keeper. He remembered being sixteen, drunk on wine and the heat of a summer night, pressing a clumsy kiss to the side of Phasma’s neck. They’d laughed about it afterward, and he’d yet to attempt such a thing with another being, man or woman, since.

Or at least, until Kylo Ren had pinned him, with both his body and mouth.

Eighteen, manhood. Being officially made his father’s first mate, and the pride he felt when their crew actually began to _listen_ to him. Twenty-five, his father’s illness. Tuberculosis, the disease that kept him hanging on for years, on the brink of death, but unwilling to let go. He rejoined his wife by the time Hux was thirty. Thirty-two, and he had dismantled all the trade routes his father had spent his life setting up, selling the connections to competitors. Thirty-three, and the remaining members of his father’s crew welcomed new men aboard as the Finalizer officially became a fishing vessel. That lead to now, a year in the north Atlantic later. His entire life, as he could recall it.

It pained him to realize, but try as he might, Hux simply could not remember any specific details of his life before the age of fourteen.

He was still mulling over his earliest memories when Phasma came knocking, not waiting for him to answer before letting herself in.

“Well?” She asked eagerly, drawing up the room’s only chair and sitting in it. Hux sighed, massaging his temples.

“Phasma, how long have we known each other?” There was a moment’s silence before her answer.

“Why, almost twenty years exactly.”

“And have you ever noticed anything… _odd_ about me, in all this time?” Her lips quirked upwards, as if she’d been waiting decades for this question.

“Well, you’re unsteady on the land, but you can’t swim. You can’t hold your drink, and I often find myself having to hold it for you. Oh, and you use more salt on your food than anyone I’ve ever met.” She ticked these things off on her fingers, head tilted as she tried to think up more. “Ah yes, and rare is the sight of your bare arms and legs. You would think a man who is so poorly suited to the cold would have chosen a more southern port to call home, but, well…” Phasma trailed off, shrugging.

“Anything else?” He asked dryly, and she laughed.

“Give me time, I may think up more yet. Why?” Hux sighed, then began to lay out the tale Kylo Ren had spun for him, conveniently leaving out his dreams, and the way the creature had felt in his arms. “But the strangest thing by far is how I just _cannot_ remember anything about my early life. If what Kylo says is true…well, that would make my life a lie, wouldn’t it?”

He’d expected Phasma to laugh, to lay his worries to rest the way she often did, but instead, she was silent. Her mouth was pressed closed in a thin line, mind racing behind her eyes.

“Not a lie.” She said finally, choosing her words carefully. “It was still your life, and you still lived it to the fullest you knew how, but if what the creature says is true then…then you have not lived your life to its fullest potential.” Though they were a match in age, it always astounded him how much wiser Phasma was. “I would ask it how you knew each other, from what you say, the two of you were once quite familiar.” The twitch in her lips made it seem like she knew _exactly_ what he had been up to with their captive, and Hux fought back his blush.

“Then I shall do that.” He said stiffly, standing. She stood as well, and they left his quarters together. Though when she made to follow him to Kylo’s prison, he stopped. “ _Alone_.” He said, firmer than he meant to, and this time, Phasma did laugh.

“As you wish, captain.” She replied smugly, and really. Such insubordination would have anyone else tossed overboard he thought to himself, but said nothing.

*

At first, Hux was alarmed by the noises coming from Kylo’s makeshift jail cell. They sounded rough, frightening, almost as if he was fighting someone. A peek in the door set a different scene.

Kylo was relaxing against the side of the tank, using his lower half as a cushion, his back to the door. He’d somehow gotten hold of some of the forgotten bones from his breakfast and, presumably, cleaned them off, now using them as a comb. His hair was quite long; much longer than Phasma’s, yet not as long as most of the women Hux had seen in his life. He stood in the doorway, transfixed as Kylo sang to himself, gathering his hair into a loose plait.

“I know you’re there.” Hux jumped, and Kylo’s shoulders shook with quiet laughter. He peeked over his shoulder, shaking the braid out again. “You’re not as quiet as you think you are.”

Hux cleared his throat, taking a seat on the floor once more. “Yes, well. I never claimed to be any sort of master of stealth. I believe you agreed to answer any questions I might have?” Kylo’s upper half turned, chin pillowed on crossed arms, resting on the top of the tank.

“I believe I did, yes.” His voice is soft, tender, and Hux isn’t sure if he’s disturbed or intrigued. Though he no longer finds Kylo’s appearance to be frightening, it’s still unsettling. “What did you want to know?” There’s only one real question he could ask.

“How do you know me?”

Kylo’s brows lift, and he smiles with all of his teeth.

“I know you from our home, in the gilded city beneath the waves. My kind lived there, though yours preferred the rocky shores. We played together as children, you watched out for me. Kept me out of trouble.” His smile went fond, eyes clouded with memories. “Sometimes you would remove your pelt and fetch us fruits from further inland. I worried for you the most then, because everyone knew of the treachery of humans. One day, you left your pelt on a rock, and a man snatched it away. I threw rocks at him, but…” Kylo gulped, ducking underwater for a moment. Hux could see how this memory hurt him, and climbed to his feet.

“Kylo,” He called placing his hands on the top of the tank. “Kylo, the past is gone. Please, tell me what happened.” His heart was racing in his chest. Something about this story, he knew. He could remember it, hazily. Kylo’s head surfaced slowly, gills still submerged.

“You came back with an armload of…something. Some kind of food, I can’t remember. I called out, screamed for you to dive into the water. You would have been safe there, I could have protected you. I, I was ten.” He whispered this, and Hux felt his blood run cold. A child. Kylo had been a child, carrying an adult’s burden his entire life. “He had your pelt, and he grabbed you by the arm. He didn’t try to hurt you as he took you away, though you fought. He brought you to a ship. I heard you scream, and then…” Kylo dug his claws into his own chest, tiny streams of blood swirling in the water around his hands. “We had always known our secret names. I was born with your song in my throat. I felt you… _go_. You were torn from me, worse than dead. My parents found me, so close to where the humans were, but I was different. I couldn’t go back without you.” He sank beneath the water again.

Hux’s legs felt weak. He remembered a woman with white eyes and long teeth, who took blood from him, made him drink something tar-black and vile. He remembered the ache in his hips, unused to standing on pale feet for so long. He remembered sleeping, nightmares of the sea swallowing him. Of water repelling him, of land disgusting him. He remembered a name, so similar to what Kylo had told him, but so different as well. Leaning over the side, Hux took a deep breath and plunged his head into the tank.

“Ben.” He said, though he used the same tongue as before. It sounded different underwater. Kylo, Ben, followed him out of the water to let him breath, then promptly yanked him back in, lifting him bodily into the tank to hold him tightly. Hux was forced to straddle his lower body, his own arms wrapped around the upper.

Ben trilled those same sounds into his ear between his hiccuping sobs, clutching him against his chest. It seemed that the mer did nothing in half-measures, be it rage, grief, or unbridled joy. Hux’s heart panged. He would never understand his old name, couldn’t even bring himself to attempt to say it. It hurt to try, and that was another thing his- another thing that Brendol Hux and his witch-woman had stolen from him.

“Please.” He heard himself gasping, hoarse and stilted. “I can’t, I cannot. Don’t call me- Hux, call me Hux, _please_  call me Hux.” Ben stilled beneath him, seemed to wilt in his grip. “Ben. Please.”

They pulled back from each other in near unison, black eyes meeting green. Ben was shaking, as was he, though Hux suspected his had less to do with the cold and everything to do with anger.

“I will _not_.” He spat, and Hux wanted to shrink back. Shrink away, maybe beg for forgiveness. It was an odd feeling, entirely unfamiliar, and he didn’t like it at all. “It’s not your name.”

“It’s been my name longer than the other one was.” Hux pointed out, and Ben paused. Abruptly, his pale skin went paler.

“Oceanus be damned.” He groaned, forehead dropping to Hux’s shoulder. “Twenty years, and you’re still always right.” The laughter bubbled up unbidden, and Hux felt the pinch of sharp claws at his side. “What’s so funny, then?”

“This!” Hux’s hands slid into Ben’s hair, gripping it firmly, but not pulling. The confusion in his face when he looked up was endearing. “Tell me. Tell me how you know me, Ben, tell me now." 

"I was born with your song in my throat. You were born with my face in your mind. As you once waited for me to come to be, I was forced to wait for you to become who you once were.” Hux knew it then, but he needed to be sure, nudging Ben to continue with his knees. “You are… _mine_. And I am yours." 

They stared at each other a moment. Ben’s eyes held a kind of fear, as if he was expecting Hux to climb from the tank and order him dumped overboard. Hux could see himself reflected in them, saw the wonder in his face. Moving his hands from Ben’s thick hair down to his face, Hux cupped his cheeks in both palms and pulled him in for a kiss.

The reaction wasn’t immediate, Ben seemingly struck dumb by Hux’s actions. Slowly, as if afraid that moving would end it all, his hands skimmed up the other man’s sides, palms resting flat on his chest as he began to kiss back, tongue flicking against Hux’s lips.

They traded kisses in the tank until Hux felt his legs begin to go numb. He’d been down here for over an hour, maybe over two. People would come looking for him, eventually. Reluctantly, he pulled away, Ben chasing his lips for a moment until he came to his senses.

"Ben, I need to go.”

“What? Why?” He mumbled, arms tightening where they lay around Hux’s lower back. “Stay here.” So much had been explained this afternoon; Ben’s desperation for him, his childish outbursts, even the strange trilling noises he made whenever Hux was around. But just because Hux understood didn’t mean he could give in whenever the mer wanted. With a soft groan, he began to struggle out of the tank.

“We need food, and I need to see to my ship.” His legs felt like lead, every muscle cramping as one. He hissed as he fell to the floor, and heard Ben give an answering whine. “I’ll come back. I cannot _not_ come back.” Once his legs were functional again, Hux stood and stretched, leaning into the tank to press their foreheads together. “Rest now, Ben.” Ben’s gills fluttered on a purr, sinking underwater to watch him through the side of the tank as he left.

Hux felt a gnawing pain in his stomach, one that didn’t relate to any physical hunger he could think of. He’d gone almost his whole life incomplete, yet the idea of walking away from completeness for even a few hours was like torture. He was exhausted on every level.

He needed to eat. He needed to sleep. But most of all, he needed to speak to Phasma.

After all, once he was gone, she would be captain.


	9. Chapter 8

Hux was three steps down the hall when he realized something. Something he hadn’t realized in the warm, almost humid room where Ben’s tank was stored.

He was soaking wet, and bloody freezing.

How he’d forgotten that Ben had pulled him into the tank, that the tank was full of _water_ which made his clothing cling and his boots squelch noisily on the wooden floor, Hux would never know. But for now, his first and only priority involved dry clothes and a warm cup of tea.

He made it to his quarters with little incident; a few odd stares didn’t count as trouble in his book, it was what he found there that made him jump. Phasma jumped as well, springing away from the trunk at the foot of the bed, lock-picking tools falling to the ground.

“What are you doing?” He wasn’t angry, never with her, though he _was_ curious. She ran a hand through her hair, sighing.

“I had a theory, and I wasn’t sure you would want to test it.” Hux kicked off his waterlogged boots, shucking his shirt over his head as he shut the door. Phasma only averted her eyes when he cleared his throat.

“Sit.” He told her, pulling dry clothing from his armoire and retreating to his bathroom to finish stripping off the wet ones before he caught pneumonia. “What is your theory?” He called through the door, toweling off his dripping hair. A pause.

“A theory on what you may have been before. What kind of creature you may be.”

Hux was quiet as he quickly pulled clothes onto his dry, but still shivering body. Tea would have to wait.

He emerged to find Phasma sitting on the trunk, legs splayed. It had been one of the things he’d coached her on when they were young, male body language, and she still utilized it from time to time. She stood, stepping away from the trunk when he kneeled to unlock it, only approaching it again when he allowed her. Surprisingly, she bypassed his father’s books on sailor’s legends, and drew out his mother’s wrap. It was a deep brown shade, more sleek than truly furry. His father had never allowed him to touch it, saying it was fragile, but Hux saw now that too was a lie; Phasma was hardly delicate as she unfolded it, and it didn’t tear at all. Once it was fully open, however, he gasped. This was no mere wrap.

It was a cloak.

His hand was shaking as he reached for it, but Phasma pulled the cloak away, holding it bunched up above her head.

“No.” She said. “Sit on the bed.” To his surprise, he did it. Phasma laughed until she sobbed, burying her face in the thick fur as she clutched the cloak to her chest. “So it’s true.”

“What is?” Hux asked, bordering on annoyed. He didn’t like it when anyone laughed at him, let alone her, and Phasma was well aware of it. With a great sigh, Phasma laid the cloak at the food of his bed, then climbed in with him.

“My theory. I was thinking it over all day, trying to remember all the old stories. You came from the sea, but you weren’t like that mer-”

“Kylo.” Hux corrected her, and she sighed again.

“Yes, him. You had mentioned that he’d said something about a stolen pelt, and that was when it hit me.” She placed one hand on his arm, the other on the cloak. “Captain Hux, meet your pelt. If you put it on, well, I am not entirely sure _what_ will happen, but if the tales are true…you will most likely become a seal.”

“A _seal_?” Hux jerked away from her, almost falling off the bed entirely. “What do you mean a _seal_? Seals aren’t some kind of, of magical creature! Seals are fat, and harmless, and…I’ve _eaten_ seal, Phasma!” He was panicking, and she bit back a laugh.

“No, you fool. Physically, you would take on the form of a seal when you put on the pelt. But mentally, you would still be a man. The Scots call them selkies, seal-women.”

“I am not a woman.” He replied crossly, hands balling into fists, and this time, she _did_ laugh. Hux knocked his shoulder against hers. “Be silent, you know that is a sore subject.”

After his father’s crew had discovered Phasma’s secret, it wasn’t long before they began to assume that he too was female. With his fair skin, high cheekbones, and fine, shiny hair, Hux had been a rather pretty lad, after all. The men knew that he wouldn’t go to his father, so desperate to be seen as an adult in his eyes, and some of them took almost sadistic pleasure in referring to him as a lass. He was fairly sure the black eyes and broken noses they’d sported after that first port were Phasma’s doing, which hadn’t made him feel much better, even though they all but stopped speaking to him. He could fight his own battles, after all, Phasma just liked getting her hands dirty, in a way he never had.

Now, she wrapped an arm about his shoulders, tucking him against her side as he had done for her, when he’d been the taller of the two.

“I know, I know. They say that selkie men have an unnatural beauty to them, though.” She was teasing him, and he allowed it. Begrudgingly. “Still, what would it be like if you put on the pelt? Would you just…be a seal? Right here, on your bed?” Her eyes shone with curiosity, and it was horribly infectious. Hux eyed the cloak, hand twitching toward it again. “Oh!” He froze as Phasma leaned forward, handing the cloak to him. “You need to not let anyone else touch it. If someone takes your pelt, you’ll be in their control until they return it to you.”

And that made sense, didn’t it? Throughout his youth, Hux had felt unable to disobey his father’s commands and just then, when Phasma had held his pelt and ordered him to sit, he sat. Powerful magic, indeed.

They sat quietly together, Hux with his pelt over his knees. He had so much he wanted to say, so much he needed to tell her before he had to go out and be a captain again. Kylo’s story, about his abduction. His own memories of the witch-woman that aided his father. The way Kylo’s skin had felt beneath his hands. His plan to leave. He simply didn’t know where to start, so he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“I’m going to leave with him, when we set him free." 

Phasma’s grip around him tightened, and he winced. She was the strongest person on the ship, and being in her clutches was no laughing matter. 

"I figured as much.” She said eventually, voice quiet and melancholy. “As soon as I realized what you were, I knew you’d be going someplace I couldn’t follow.”

He would miss her. More than his ships, or his books, or anything else the surface had to offer, Hux would miss Phasma. But he could give her a gift before leaving, his way of making her too busy to miss him back.

“You could follow, if you wished. You would simply have to assemble a crew willing to travel all the way to the Pacific Ocean for you.”

Phasma let go of him.

“Are you,” She inhaled deep, held her breath a moment, then let it all whoosh out again. “Are you making me captain?” Her eyes were wide, hopeful.

Hux had only kept the Finalizer because the prospect of finding employment on the land made him sick. But for Phasma, the sea held a never-ending call. She was no secret ocean creature, she was simply not made for land. If it weren’t for her loyalty to him, Hux had no doubt that she would have left to make her own fortunes after he’d decided that they would become fishermen. Now she had her chance.

“If you would take the title, yes.”

With a cry, Phasma seized him by the front of his shirt, their lips colliding with a loud smacking sound. Then she was up and moving, spinning around the room with her arms stretched wide until she was able to feel the rocking of the waves all the way down to her soul, falling back onto the bed. They were both quiet again as she caught her breath, and then,

“Why do you taste like the sea?”


	10. Chapter 9

She’d mocked him a little when he’d told her about Kylo. Pulled him into her arms, mussed his hair. There was laughter in her voice when she spoke.

“He isn’t a particularly _attractive_ fish, though? Surely you could hold out for one whose eyes fail to match that raven hair.” Hux rolled his eyes, rebuttal dying on his tongue once he realized that, despite how desperately he longed to be with Kylo, he still didn’t find him particularly handsome. Interesting, yes, but not physically appealing.

“He has a lovely voice.” He offered instead, and Phasma laughed out loud.

“He must, to make you want to follow him across the world.” Heat bloomed in his cheeks, and he dug his fingers into her side. “Ah! Enough of that, you know I hate it!”

They tussled like children on his bed for a few minutes more, Hux only submitting when Phasma sat on his chest and he found himself completely unable to remove her.

“What have you been eating, rocks?” He groused, putting his clothing back in order as he stood. Phasma stood behind him, smoothing his hair down with a spit-licked palm. “Eugh, you’re vile.”

“If it works for me, it’ll work for you.” She said, and Hux could practically hear the smug grin on her face. He would miss her, his sister in all but blood. “So, when do you think you’ll tell them? I have no doubt that the men with families will be inclined to quit, rather than serve under me, sailing towards a destination so far from home.”

Time seemed to have lost its meaning since Kylo came aboard; had it really only been two days? Still, his crew seemed eager for news of his final fate, when the two of them went to dinner that evening, and Hux found himself in need of a quick lie.

“The creature’s intent was not malicious.” Was the first of it, and he heard Phasma snort behind him. “All it wanted, all it had ever wanted, was me. My father before me owed a life debt, and as I bear his name, it is up to me to fulfill it.”

The chatter in the mess died down as he explained that he would be leaving them, but rose again once he named his successor. “-and should anyone take issue with the soon to be captain, you are more than welcome to take it up with her.”

Hux strode out of the room before anyone could stop him, hands clasped behind his back. Phasma did not follow, and he trusted her to settle the minds of any dissenters. She worked with these men; ordered them, but was hardly above them. They liked her, trusted her. Yes, they would suffer some losses as family men looked for new work, but the ports were full of people eager to travel the world. They would be fine.

He stopped in the galley, picking up both his own dinner, and more fish for Ben. He supposed he’d have to get used to eating with the mer, and having food to concentrate on might help keep his mind off the disgusting display Ben put on.

When he got to Ben’s makeshift prison, the mer was neither sleeping nor grooming, nor singing. He had his back turned to the door, his body shivering even in the heat of the room. Hux cleared his throat, and Ben jumped, putting both hands in the air. The tips of his claws were coated in-

“Is that blood?” Hux demanded, dropping both of their meals on the floor as he rushed over to the tank. Ben had been carving symbols into his stomach, and he winced as the salt water rinsed the wounds clean. “Why would you do this?”

“I was bored.” Ben replied, and he had to take a moment to steady himself. The mer seemed to have a higher tolerance for pain, as well as a quicker healing time. The marks were already starting to scab over beneath the water. “Are you upset with me?”

Hux had turned away, had went to attempt to salvage their food. He wasn’t _upset_ , more along the lines of annoyed. “Do not do that again, Ben.” His voice was shaking, and he willed away the quiver before next he spoke. “If you’re bored, call for me.” A shot of water hit the back of his neck, and Hux slapped at the wetness rolling down his collar. “Ben-!” He grit as he turned back around, then froze.

Ben’s lower half was curled in a way that took up the entirety of the tank, his chin resting on his hands as his arms framed the rim. His dark hair was mostly dry, curling softly around his face as he blinked slowly at Hux. “I’m bored.” He said softly, then patted his topmost coil. “Come in here.”

“Aren’t you hungry?” He asked, holding up the bowl with the fish, and Ben shook his head.

“Come in here.” He whispered, and Hux felt his mouth go dry.

“Right then. Alright. Give me a moment.” There was a sliding lock on the door, and Hux slotted it into place before shrugging off his coat and beginning to unbutton his shirt. Ben sat up, alarmed.

“What are you _doing_?” He cried, watching Hux bend to untie his boots. Hux stood up straight again.

“I’m not getting another set of clothes soaked, thank you very much.” Ben seemed to roll the words around in his head, his expression confused, and realization dawned rather suddenly. “These things aren’t part of me, they’re removable. They’re not my new pelt.”

 _His pelt_. Hux hadn’t told Ben that he’d found his pelt yet. But now was not the time he decided, seeing the interest with which Ben eyed his pale skin. His open shirt slipped down his arms, and was set carefully on top of his coat and socks. His pants were removed and folded, and laid atop his shirt. He deliberated a moment on whether or not to remove his underclothes, when a high sound from Ben made the decision for him.

The mer was more in the water than he’d been before, his eyes wide and trained on the last bit of cloth he still wore. Hux snorted, sliding the trousers down his legs and stepping out of them. The room was warm, almost unbearably so, and it took approaching the tank for Hux to realize that all the heat was coming from _Ben_.

“A bit of a hand?” He teased, and was immediately seized beneath the arms. Ben’s skin was so hot to the touch, heating the water he sat in. Which reminded him, “I trust you’ve been polite to the men who change out the water in the tank?” He hadn’t received any complaints, but then, he’d been rather absent these last two days. Ben only let out a softer whine, rubbing his face into Hux’s neck as he straddled the approximation of his hips again, pressed together chest to chest.

“I pretend to be asleep while they drain the tank. I don’t want to talk to anyone else.” Fair enough; it wouldn’t do for Ben to tell anyone about their… _relationship_. Though, was that what it was?

“Ben,” Hux wondered aloud. “Did your people have a name for mine? Selkie, perhaps?” Ben hummed against his throat.

“Yes, that’s it exactly. Mine have many names thanks to landwalkers; men of water, merrow, but I’ve always liked maneli.” His lips, still pressed tightly to Hux’s neck, stretched into a smile. “It means more than just merman, after all.”

Hux thought, for a sparse moment, that perhaps Ben and Phasma would get along well. Ben had obviously spoken to other people over the years, and seemed rather learned. He wondered if the mer could read. If Ben would enjoy Phasma reading to him. His two dearest people, getting along. It was a nice thought.

And then Ben shifted his lower half slightly, and Hux gasped as something slid across his rear.

“What is _that_?” He yelped, launching himself away. His back hit the opposite side of the tank with a dull thud, and he groaned. Ben sat up, worried, and only seemed to notice the _thing_ jutting out of his lower half when it moved. He made a similar noise, then tried to shove it back into his body with both hands.

“I don’t know!” Ben whined, distressed. The tentacle-like appendage refused to yield. “It’s never, it doesn’t come out this far!” Hux remembered, quite suddenly Ben’s need to expel. This was apparently the organ he did it out of. The human equivalent of such a thing was, well. “I was just, you felt so good against me. Your skin was so soft, and then mine went tight and…” He gestured at the tentacle, which seemed to be squirming.

Several facts were made very apparent just then.

Firstly, Ben seemed to be as inexperienced as he was in the realm of intimacy. Second, and much more importantly, Ben desired him. Third, and possibly the most important of all, Hux had no idea how exactly he was supposed to respond to this.

He enjoyed being in Ben’s company. Craved it, even, when they were apart. But there was something just so… _inhuman_ about his physical appearance, that Hux couldn’t imagine desiring him in that way. Even with the way the blush high on his cheeks made his face look rounder, or the way he chewed on his lip with his sharp teeth, still trying to shove the evidence of his lust back into his lower half. Or the beginnings of tears prickling at the corners of his eyes, which looked brighter and more aware than ever.

Hux swallowed hard.

Oh, but perhaps there _was_ a hint of attraction there, after all.

“No it’s, it’s alright.” He murmured, pulling himself back into Ben’s space slowly, one hand gripping the side of the tank. Ben’s body had only gotten hotter in his absence, flush with embarrassment and what he felt was a shameful desire. Every place Hux touched felt like it was resting against a mug filled with boiling liquid, and he resisted the urge to hiss. He settled with his back against Ben’s chest, the organ rising up between his splayed legs. “May I..?”

“Yes!” Ben blurted. He wasn’t sure what he was agreeing to, but if Hux was offering it, he was game.

Hux had held an octopus, once. They’d caught it, and he’d picked it up to put it into the strange creature tank. The tank he and Ben were presently sitting in. The little thing had had suckers all over its arms, and they latched onto Hux and refused to let go, until Phasma yanked it off of him. Ben’s organ had no suckers, and it didn’t feel rough or slimy. It had the same thick, glossy texture his skin did, and the curved tip twisted towards his hand, as if it wanted to be touched.

The head of the phallus was thin and narrow, and it widened bit by bit until it vanished back into his body. There were no visible testes, leading Hux to believe that they were internal. If he were to make a diagram, he would most compare Ben’s body to that of a whale, or a dolphin, even though his lower half made him look like some great tuna spliced with a sea serpent. 

His scientific analysis ground to a shuddering halt as the tip of Ben’s cock wrapped itself around his outstretched finger, uncurling and sliding down his palm. They both gasped, and Hux felt a heat bloom low in his belly, a heat that had nothing to do with the warmth Ben was giving off. He felt Ben’s palms settle on his hips, the bite of sharp claws on his thighs not bothering him.

“Oh,” Ben hissed from between gritted teeth, lower half rising upwards a bit. “Oh, look.”

He didn’t need to look, Hux was perfectly capable of feeling. He’d felt as his own cock stirred, lazily thickening as it bobbed in the water. He’d felt as Ben’s cock abandoned his palm, wrapped around his, squeezed. He groaned aloud, shouting as sharp teeth sank into the meat of his shoulder, muffling Ben’s whine.

“Ben.” He panted, grabbing hold of the arms twined around his torso to steady himself. “Ben, _oh_ , oh _Ben_ , I-” Hux let out a final strangled sound, hips jerking forward as he came.

Hux wasn’t quite aware as Ben’s arms pulled away, floating bonelessly for a moment. The mer seemed to be gathering as much of the pearlescent liquid as he could, rubbing it into his arms and chest. Hux wrinkled his nose. “What are you _doing_?” Ben grinned, and didn’t stop coating himself.

“It’s got a thick scent to it.” He said, tongue flicking towards his fingers. “I like your smell.”

He wasn’t sure what came over him then, but Hux was suddenly seized by a fierce rush of affection for his mer. This strange, loyal beast, who spent years searching for him. Who spent every second he could with his arms around him. Who lapped at the mark he’d left so tenderly, a wordless apology that didn’t feel like he was sorry at all.

“Where is the gilded city?” Hux asked quietly, stretching his legs out in front of him as he leaned back against Ben’s chest. The mer shrugged. “If I got you a map, would you be able to find the general area?”

“Oh, certainly. The oceans just have different names to me. For instance, the one we’re in now is called,” The noise he made, a series of clicks and hums, seemed to come from several places at once, and Hux realized that he was making them with his gills. “But I think I like the landwalker name for it. Atlantic, just takes less time to say.” Hux snorted, reaching up and back to card a hand through Ben’s hair.

“So I’ll bring a map tomorrow morning, after we’ve docked.” Ben had been purring again at the contact, but stopped quite suddenly.

“Docked? Why are we docking?” He was panicking, starting to thrash and buck, and Hux laid gentle hands on his lower half. The phallus, he noticed, had vanished back into his body.

“We’re docking to let the men who want to leave leave, and pick up a few new hands who want to make the journey to whatever part of the ocean you, _we_ call home.” Hux explained, and Ben slowly began to settle. “I promised to go with you, and I am a man of my word.” He said, as if there was any possibility of him wanting to be with anyone else.

“We’re going home?” Ben whispered, sounding like he was scarcely able to believe it. Hux smiled, closing his eyes. Without realizing it, he’d twined his fingers with Ben’s, giving his webbed hand a little squeeze.

“Yes, as quickly as we’re able.”

He’d never really had a _home_ before, the Finalizer being the only thing that came to mind when he thought of the word. Traveling constantly had made a restless man of him but maybe, just maybe, returning to the place of him birth would help him find some kind of peace.

If not, well, Ben had roamed the earth _for_ him, he probably wouldn’t mind doing it again _with_ him.


	11. Chapter 10

Hux wasn’t sure when he dozed off, Kylo’s warmth sinking deep into his bones, but the feeling of water filling his nose and mouth woke him quickly. He sputtered as he sat up, and realized that he hadn’t been _dunked_. He’d been _dislodged_.

A quiet horror settled over him as he watched Ben and Phasma yell at each other; Phasma using a panicked tone he’d never heard from her before, and Ben resorting to the gurgling clicks and shrieks of his own language. Hux couldn’t understand him, but he doubted it meant anything good.

“ _Enough_.” He finally bellowed, once he got his breath back. “Ben, I will tolerate much from you, but disrespect towards Phasma is out of line. Phasma,” He ran a hand through his sopping wet hair, trying to put it back in some semblance of order. “I’m fine.”

From the corner of his eye, Hux could see Ben glaring at him. Phasma just looked amused. She’d often told him that he slept like the dead and so, coming in to see him unmoving in the tank, she must have drawn a more sinister conclusion.

Placing his hands over his privates, Hux sat up a bit straighter.

“Actually, I am glad you’re both here. You see, I,” He coughed, unsure of how to phrase his next words. “I…oh, damn it.” He thunked his forehead against the rim of the tank, and Ben was immediately plastered to his back, claws pressing at the light dent he’d made.

“Hux?” He asked, and the man felt his heart speed up. Ben hadn’t ever used his human name before; the mer was sincerely _worried_ for him.

“I’m fine.” He said again, then squared his shoulders. “Earlier today, my pelt was returned to me.” Hux had more to say, but found himself unable to speak.

Ben had wrapped both powerful arms about his middle, and was presently squeezing the air out of him. Hux dug his nails into the thick skin of Ben’s forearm as hard as he could, and he eventually took the hint, releasing his hold while keeping him firmly in his embrace. “Yes, ahem. Anyway. I have a request, for both of you.”

Phasma straightened, arms behind her back. This would most likely be the last order from her captain, and even in his state of undress, she was determined to be as respectful as she could. Though, he noticed that she’d failed to wipe the little grin off her face. Ben, on the other hand, only nuzzled closer, his chin slotted into Hux’s collarbone.

“This evening, I plan to release Kylo back into the sea. When we dock tomorrow morning, I’m going to take the Intrepid out into the bay. Phasma, you will join me. Once we’re far out enough, I will, I am going to,” His hands left his lap, fidgeting along the edges of the tank. “I will put my pelt on and see what happens.”

There was a sudden explosion of noise, from the both of them. Ben was nothing but pleased, chattering excitedly about the freedom the water brought, about how beautiful he was going to be once he was back the way he was meant to look. Phasma seemed mildly distressed, listing off all the reasons that doing this so soon was a bad idea. She seemed to be stalled at _this makes it real to me, not theory, and I am afraid_.

“Phasma,” Hux began softly, and behind him, Ben quieted. “I have spent so long uncomfortable in my own skin, and then I discover it’s because this is _not_ my own skin. You know who you are, where you’re from, and where you’re going. I’ve been given the chance to know all of that.” She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

“At least…I know of a grotto. It’s safer there, more covered. You can change, and you won’t be bothered. And the water, it’s shallow enough at some points that if you panic, you won’t drown.”

“He won’t drown!” Ben protested, and Phasma raised a brow, as if she’d forgotten he was present. “I’ll be there, he wouldn’t have the chance. I’m never going to let anything happen to him again.” The little smile was back, and Hux sighed. He’d definitely be hearing about this later.

“Now that we’re all on the same page, captain, if you would please hand me my pants.”

Phasma bristled at the title, her eyes twitching towards the only door. After a moment, Hux realized that she’d only ever heard him address his father in such a way before. But the moment soon passed, and she was gathering his clothing and piling it closer to the tank, placing his trousers directly into his waiting hands.

“Though if I may, you might want to think about locking the door next time you choose to disrobe with a prisoner.” She said innocently, and Ben growled. Oh yes, this was not the last he’d hear of-

Wait.

“I _did_ lock the door.” He replied, confused. It had been the first thing he’d done. Looking at the door, nothing appeared to be broken. Then he noticed that Ben’s coils were twitching. His heart clenched with dread. “Ben, did you unlock the door?" 

The room wasn’t terribly, big, and the tank was on wheels. He could have, conceivably, scooted himself over to the door, unlocked it, and scooted back.

"Someone was knocking.” He mumbled, turning his reddened face away from them. “I told him to come back later.” Hux’s forehead hit the rim again, but his groan was not of pain.

“A fitting sendoff. Right then. I will be out soon, Phasma, carry on as I would in my stead.”

“I wouldn’t dare be so decadent, sir.” Phasma said breezily, sweeping out the door. Hux cursed under his breath, pulling himself from the water to climb over the side of the tank. His progress was aided once more by a pair of strong arms, which lifted him like he weighed nothing at all.

It almost irked him, the ease at which Ben moved him around. Hux was a tall man, over six feet, but he’d always been slight of frame. Ben was long and broad, and would have cut an imposing figure even if he _wasn’t_ a nightmare of the sea. Heat coiled in his gut again, and Hux grinned to himself. Ah, yet another thing he found attractive about the mer; there seemed to be more all the time.

It took him much less time to get redressed than he’d thought it would, even with Ben watching him as intently as he’d been.

“I will return shortly with Phasma and a few men, to bring your tank up topside. _please_ behave as we move you.” In a moment of indulgence, Hux reached forward and stroked his fingers down the side of Ben’s face. “I…am looking forward to swimming with you.”

It was the right thing to say, possibly the best possible thing to say, and while his entire lower half was rolling with excitement, the half of Ben that leaned out of the tank was merely quivering with joy. His hand moved down to Ben’s chest, where his heart was beating quick enough that Hux could feel it through his thick skin. It pained him to pull away.

“Hurry.” Ben said breathlessly, before slipping back into the tank completely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this marks the beginning of a short hiatus, until I can get the (hopefully last) chapter to flow right. This chapter has been sitting in my drafts completed for two weeks, and y'all deserve to see it while I try and finish this beast.


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